Welcome to my blog. You never really know what to expect to find here. Some days, I might think I'm funny. Other days, I'm a little more serious. Sometimes, I'm just sharing a friend with you. Stick around and see what comes up next.

Dec 30, 2011

Parental alienation is one of those topics so painful for the person going through, it's quite difficult to discuss. I've tried to bring the topic up without going into a rant. I no longer wish to attack my own ex over anything, but this is still a topic which needs to be discussed among adults, with other adults, and like adults.

For those of you on mobile phones, here's a flash version:

Originally published on YouTube. It's time this form of child abuse is recognized and stopped. Here are those two resources I promise in the video. I'm sure you'll find them helpful: http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/info_pas.htm and http://www.parental-alienation-awareness.com/

Few things in life are more sickening than when a supposed grown-up uses a parent's love of their children as "leverage" of some sort or another, to get their way. Please comment on the video below. Just be mature enough to at least not be vicious. If you do have something vicious to say, and you're not willing to identify yourself, I just might delete your comment. So be mature, or at least be honest about who you are. Thanks. I hope something helps visitors here.

Dec 21, 2011

Throughout the history of mankind, we have always wanted to understand the mysteries around us of this beautiful world. Before the rise of science, the human mind defaulted to crediting everything to one sort of god or another. This reliance on some mysterious, supernatural entity was the norm for countless centuries of human history.

As of late though, more and more people are no longer accepting this as an answer. We are turning to various forms of science to understand our world. In the process of learning, we've found evidence of processes far more intriguing than anything religion could explain. (If someone needs support of the rise in the numbers of non-believers, visit this page from NPR, or this NBC affiliate. Here's one more.)

Where we once believed our planet to be the center of the universe, astronomy shows us we're really less than a speck of space dust, compared to the entire cosmos. Where we once held onto the belief that goodness only flows from some spiritual deity, biology now shows the human organism has an innate goodness - and that it is essential to the survival of our species.

Where once, any particular religious leader was the highest authority in any given region of the world, archeology proves mankind has had many competing gods. Even today, among any particular religion's followers, there is division. Christianity is credited with 34,000 denominations throughout history. Islam has 72 sects. Religion has - if nothing else - brought about more division than any other factor in history.

Religion held its power over the individual human mind by the power of fear, more than any other factor. In spite of attempted arguments to the contrary, love existed among all belief systems, so nobody's god can lay claim to it exclusively. No, it was a fear of eternal torment in hell which was used to gain followers. Too often, those who refused still were tortured and/or slaughtered as "heretics" or "infidels" - depending on which religion's terminology a person used.

But the various religious leaders are losing their power to kill non-believers, and they are powerless to stop the trend. Daily, more people around the world are coming to realize slaughtering their own is wrong.

For the most part, Christianity lost its carte blanche pass centuries ago, although there still remain pockets of religious persecution by Christians. Islam is losing its power before our very eyes. Ridiculous "honor killings" are prosecuted as the crimes which they are. This is good.

While each of the world's religious leaders is busy decrying others for not being more like them, we atheists notice you all sound the same to us - divisive, superstitious and lacking a philosophical leg to stand on. The threats of hell from any of you sound like the threats of hell from all of you - and we accept none of it from any of you. We've all come to learn that for all of us to survive, only love will work. As was once so eloquently stated anonymously, "Seeing now that the Bible was so wrong about where we came from, how can we trust it to tell us where we're going?"

Some day, as our future generations look through our history, they'll see that humanity finally woke up to the beautiful reality surrounding us all. They'll see the myths of an afterlife were what kept primitive man back for as long as it did. They'll be able to pinpoint the time wherein we finally realized we're all just people - and tribalism, racism and religions were just myths. They'll see we finally realized we need each other and nobody was terrorized into obeying any superstition.

Dec 19, 2011

It never pays to buy into every rumor on Facebook. It's bad enough when someone believes everything they read on the site. It's even worse when someone lets those Facebook rumors make them angry without checking out the accuracy of those rumors. But to go and make a threat to President Obama and his children like California politician Jules Manson did? That's just plain stupid.

First, it's criminal to call for the assassination of the president. Secondly, his children? Come on...his kids? What the hell did they do? And thirdly, to be so pissed off about a Facebook rumor that's just so...inaccurate. Wow. You big dummy.

Well, we're all human. And I wanted to give him the chance to explain himself and what he said. So I sent him a few questions. They are as follows:

'Do you regret the statement? And would you like a chance to rephrase?'

'What motivated you to make such a statement?'

'Do you feel Ron Paul supports your position? And more importantly, would you consider dropping your public support of Congressman Paul to spare him the embarrassment?'

'In case the Secret Service does come to talk with you on this subject, how will you deal with it? Will you try to fight any charges in court?'

'Also, as a dad myself, I really feel you should leave the Obama kids out of all of this. What were you thinking to mention his kids as well? Why drag his children into it?'

'In regards to these statements, on the off chance you do end up facing charges, will you indemnify Ron Paul by stating clearly, your statements do not reflect his position?'”

Thus were my questions. Jules chose to make one solid statement to me, rather than answer each question independently. So, I'm going to share his reply just as he sent it to me. I feel this is the fairest way possible to allow him to defend himself. Other than the combining of individual messages into one paragraph, no other changes have been made to his words. I can provide screen-shots if necessary.

JM: “Sure thing Donald Pennington

Thank you for allowing me to respond to this.

You are all correct. I have since had time to think about what I wrote. I went way too far but it was only an emotional over-reaction to learning that our president had signed away some of our constitutional protections. That is all it was and I meant no harm to come to anyone. For this I apologize to all you good people especially to all black Americans (including the president and his family) who may have been offended at my racial epithets or taken my statements as genuine. I also accept whatever comes my way.

I am a very emotionally driven person and often react before I have had time to calm down. I realize that nothing good can come from such statements. Again I wish to stress that I have many black friends who may find my disgusting statements offensive including many other black people I have never met. For this I deeply regret. I also wish to stress to the president himself and his family my deepest regret and apology.

However, we MUST remain very vocal about what this government is becoming. This is the only land that I know and love. It is why I am so vocal about it. If I had not cared enough, I would have remained quiet like most people.

I do not intend on ever stopping my very vocal dissent about its oppressive policies. It is my hope that this issue may have awakened all Americans to the steady erosion of our constitutional protections. This is the only thing people should be incensed about. Not my careless emotionally driven words on a facebook [sic] page.

My statements have nothing to do with Ron Paul or the Libertarian Party or anything else political. They were really me being human in a very disgusting way as most of us are guilty of sometimes in our lives. This was one such moment for me. I really do not wish for this to hurt his campaign as he really is the right man for the job.” -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In summary of the discussion with Jules Manson, I'll still disagree with his use of the racial slur, the threats of violence against the president and the wholly unnecessary comment about the president's kids.

But everyone, even the most depraved of mass-murderers on trial, get a chance to defend themselves or at least explain their side. And this was yours, Jules Manson. (I'm not saying you are a depraved mass murderer. I'm just saying even they get a chance for defense.)

I will, however, say that you are a dumbass. If this is how you react in anger – to throw racial slurs, threaten violence and attack children – then I am glad for the people of California that you blew your chance in politics. I'm also quite glad you exposed the real you in such a public way, before anyone else gets dragged into your secret room-of-stupid-bullshit-within-your-head. I'm also taking you off of my friends list.

Don't be so quick to believe silly Facebook rumors from other stupid people. Facebook is just like any other community, in that, the majority of the populace are just a bunch of big dummies – big, fat, thoughtless dummies. And you fit right in.

Dec 14, 2011

All of us in life, at various times, find ourselves either deserving of good things or bad. But it is not just we ourselves who get what we deserve. Whatever we enjoy or endure is shared, whether we want it to be or not, with others in our lives – our friends and loved ones, co-workers and even strangers we happen across through our day. We neither suffer nor celebrate anything alone, even when we try to.

As an example, think about the prisoner being punished for a crime. While they're the one locked up in a cell, their friends also miss them. Their family does without their contributions. Their absence from society leaves the smallest of holes in the world. They do not suffer their sentence alone. Others are punished alongside them who never see the inside of a cell.

On the opposite side of the coin, let's consider the lottery winner – at least the good side of it anyway. They're not, in any way, the only person who enjoys the benefit of the windfall. The server at any restaurant who gets their table is likely to enjoy healthy tips. Family and friends may find themselves getting gifts. The community in general gets a boost in tax revenue. Should he invest his funds in a legitimate business, he creates jobs. Even if he squanders every last dime, everything he purchases along the way generates a profit somewhere. My examples are simplistic. Real-life scenarios are vastly more complicated, but time is limited.

Whether good or bad, anything a body is enjoying or suffering, others are just as affected. Try as we might, we are never alone. Even those who've abandoned their closest family to find themselves on skid row share their bitterness in their stench for every passerby. Even they, being as far removed the society as possible, have an impact on others.

Perhaps this is what John Donne was getting at in “Meditations: XVII” when he said, in part:

“No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were.Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankindand therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls.It tolls for thee.”

His religious “filter” within his mind may have caused him to be something of a “drama queen,” but he was close. His limited understanding and relative lack of knowledge put into his work a theme centered only on death and his part played within the church. But, even out of his undeserved-guilt-ridden rant, the smallest piece of treasure can be found. He was so close to discovering a powerful truth.

Even if we ourselves feel we do not deserve something good – for whatever reason – we still have those in our lives who very well may. Our families, friends, associates and strangers encountered throughout each day may very well be deserving of everything good. For that reason, if nothing else, we must look for everything good we can in this life. We must strive for all the prosperity, happiness, love, joy and freedom we possibly can during our one trip on this speck of space dust, even if we feel we ourselves, do not deserve something good, others do. It's not anyone's right to deny something good which someone else may deserve.

Dec 5, 2011

I've just made a decision about my blog. I've just removed a long-time sponsor from it and for good cause. Maybe you might do better with AdBrite - but me – I'm a little tired of being kicked in the teeth.

I've had a small relationship with AdBrite for years now. And there have been a few times I've made a few dollars, so not all of the memories are bad. But after the month of November 2011, wherein I've had more blog visitors than ever before, I see a whopping total of 19 cents in earnings.

In fact, over the past two years, I've seen such little earnings with them, it's not even worth sweating ever collecting a cent from them. 19 cents for my best blog month. Admittedly, my blog sucks for visitors compared to most others. And that brings me to my next point.

These last couple of years, the advertisers using AdBrite have gone from good to bad to spam-a-licious. When I've addressed this with admin they tell me, when I increase my visitor totals and the quality of those visitors (whatever the hell that means anyway), I'll see better advertisers.

What? In order to get anything much more than “Congratulations! You're today's lucky visitor!” I have to get the kinds of page views that are usually turned off by “Congratulations! You're today's lucky visitor?” Talk about Catch-22. Besides, my visitor totals have been increasing, in spite of this, "Congratulations! you're today's lucky visitor," is all I see. (By the way, who could ever get tired of seeing that ingenious, well thought-out marketing approach? It just gets better every time I see it. Not lame at all, right?)

Awhile back, I was seeing those scummy, lowlife ads where some advertiser using AdBrite is basically trying to trick folks into downloading something, allegedly because their video player wasn't updated. Although I repeatedly rejected those ads, they kept showing up.

Contacting admin, I was told I needed to set my adzone to “family friendly,” and that it would significantly lower my income. So, if I am to ever have a shot at making money with AdBrite, I have to deal with these types. Well, I'm not settling for that. I sell my soul enough as it is.

Dealing with AdBrite has been a lot like being told that, in order to make a living, I have to deal with scumbags. I'm tired of the negative impact their ads have had on my blog. The folks at WoT have told me what shows up on my page from these advertisers AdBrite deals with. They're just not finicky enough to deserve to be on my blog.

Then there are questions too, regarding the way they work anyway. Even though lately, my visitor counts have gone up, the earnings just are not going up accordingly. I contacted admin about that as well and was told – in short and what appears to me as – they just don't have the advertisers. This, in spite of everything I was told previously.

No more. I will not let others dictate what I carry on my blog, for the sake of maybe earning a few dollars a month – unless some other problem arises. I will not be told to jump through hoops to just be denied my prize anyway. Perhaps others might give AdBrite a try and they may just love them but not me. Not anymore. I'm done with kissing the ass of those who would treat me badly. I have been patient enough, to such a point, I have wasted my time. No more.

Check your page rank.

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